WHEREAS, Americans are the victims of more than 20 million crimes each year, and crime can touch the lives of anyone regardless of age, national origin, race, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, immigration, or economic status; and

WHEREAS, too many communities feel disconnected from justice and social response systems and have lost trust in the ability of those systems to recognize them and respond to their needs; and

WHEREAS, victims of repeated crimes who fail to receive supportive services are at greater risk for long-term consequences of crime; and

It's hard to believe that it has been 2 years since The Big Lake Times was set loose upon the internet. A lot has happened in that time, such as the move to incorporate Big Lake as a 2nd Class City, the Willow-Sockeye Fire, and many more topics both big and small. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the readers and users of The Big Lake Times; after all, YOU are why WE do this. A big Thank You goes out to all those that have contributed to making the site what it is by submitting stories, links, comments and financially supporting this free Community Resource. Every day we are out gathering stories of interest to you.

Some history: In December 2013 some of us were noticing ( or lamenting) the lack of a community-based and minded source for news, weather, events, and other happenings around and about Big Lake. I volunteered to put something together and it was ready on New Years Day 2014. It wasn't perfect, as we found out in the first few days, but we've been working to correct and eliminate any snags while improving the site. It was designed from the start to be simple, quick, and mobile-friendly. And unlike many print media news sites, you can read for free and comment anonymously. We even have free classified ads.

The Big Lake Times is currently providing opportunities for the following position:

Local and School News

The Big Lake Times has opportunities available to anyone interested in getting valuable work skills for their resume, for example a student of a local school that would be interested in reporting on school and education news and events, a college student, or anyone else. We're always seeking more original stories of local interest to the Community.

This is an intern position, with some provided training in HTML, PHP, Word, and other skills. No experience necessary.

If interested, send a letter of interest and a short sample of your writing/photography to biglaketimes@gmail.com

The Big Lake Times website offers many features that you may not be aware of, or aren't sure how to use. For example, we recently received an inquiry from a reader requesting a way that he could see just the stories from a topic. We appreciate and welcome suggestions from You, the Reader of The Big Lake Times, for improvements.

We offer a variety of filters, some built-in, like replacing some "very bad words", antispam, and some you can set yourself.

We've received a few inquiries regarding the method to post comments or other materials to The Big Lake Times. Here's a helpful guide.

To submit an article for consideration, use the "Contribute" link at the top of the site, or by email to biglaketimes@gmail.com. You may include links and up to 5 images or graphics with your submission. If you're not logged in then the system will list your contribution as "Anonymous". Your article will have to be approved.

To post a comment you need to know a few things. First, we allow anonymous comments, and second No, you are not allowed to include images with your post. You may link an image instead using regular html. Review our "Legal" page for posting guidelines.

(1) To post a comment, start here:Logged in users will not see all these steps

Whoever first said that “Time Flies” should get a prize. It doesn't seem like a year since we started The Big Lake Times with the intention to fill a need: Timely, free, unbiased reporting of the news affecting the Susitna Valley, a need that was previously unmet, and to provide a community-driven website with events, links, information, free classified ads, and the ability to post comments. In this way people can make their voices heard anonymously, without fear of being ostracized from others who may know them. This is one of the last places on the Internet to allow this, but the experiment has proven successful thus far.

The response from everyone has been mostly great, with the exception of some spammers that have been banned forever. The discussions are civil, and the comments mostly on-topic. People around the area have told me they visit the site every day to keep up with what's happening.

Type: Permit (MSB006904)The Lynx Lake Road Personal Use Firewood Harvest Area is open effective February 18, 2014. This area is located in the Nancy Lake area off of Lynx Lake Road. Access to the area crosses Private property. Access and removal restrictions will be strictly enforced. This area is designated as personal use only for harvest of MSB forest resources.

A $25 permit is required and may be obtained from the Land & Resource Management Division between the hours of 8am-5pm, Mon-Fri. at the Mat-Su Borough Administration Building, located at 350 E. Dahlia Avenue, Palmer.

24 April 2015 The Big Lake Times is "Mobile Friendly", meaning it works and is readable on any mobile device: Your phone, tablet, iPad, and other mobile devices. It was designed that way from the original concept. You can stay up-to-date with all the news, weather, and events happening in and around Big Lake.

7 April 2015 Free Classified Ads are available on The Big Lake Times. Keep it clean, you may include up to 3 photos with your ad. You must be logged on to use this feature (otherwise you would have no way of managing your ad). Click here to go to the classifieds.

10 January 2015 All news articles, discussions and related materials regarding the proposal to incorporate Big Lake as a 2nd Class City have been moved to the new topic "Big Lake City." This will help everyone in decision making by having all the information in one location.